Holiday Survival Guide: In-Law Edition

Seven tips to help you survive the holidays without killing your in-laws (or yourself).

Someone once said that the only family you get to pick is your dog. Often, our families are not people we would normally choose to hang out with.

During the holidays, not only do we get to spend a lot of time with our families, as an added bonus, we get to spend more time with our in-laws. The dog thing generally holds for in-laws as well, but I have worked with clients who question whether to marry because of difficult in-laws-to-be.

The fact that your in-laws aren’t the same as your family is a good thing for lots of us, but not for some. Just because you do things a certain way in your family, don’t expect the same from your in-laws. In some families, gifts are huge. In others, they’re barely noticeable. Some have turkey; others have ham. And really, was it so great in your family? Be open to differences and learn to go with the flow.

What seems strange to you might seem normal to your partner. Kissing grown adults on the lips comes to mind. Remember, when you grow up in a country where everyone eats live fish, it seems perfectly normal to you.

3. Notice the nature of communication among family members and consider matching it.

I’m not saying you can’t be yourself, but consider it more like being at work than spending the holidays with your family. If you’re in a room of stiffs, you don’t want to come off as a hysterical, loud comic, even if that works for you most of the time. If the in-laws are outgoing and you’re too much of a wallflower, they’ll think you don’t like them.